Boys Basketball: Huskies Lose Heartbreaker to Panthers

The Huskies sought vengeance for their loss to rival Potomac School earlier in the season, but their comeback lead vanished at the final buzzer to lose 74-73 on Saturday.

The first half showed signs the Huskies would suffer an even worse loss than the 65-47 defeat last month. Posting 21 points total in the first half, the Huskies sat 18 points behind Potomac at halftime.

The Huskies had one reason to celebrate in the first half: Mo Berchie reached his 1,000th career point on his first points of the game.

But the Huskies went on an offensive tear after halftime that brought them within four by the end of the third period. The scoring spree started with two foul shots from senior Brian McDonald, who became a regular at the free throw line by the end of the game. Of his team-high 22 points, 10 were from foul shots. He stood at the line seven times in the second half, nine times total.

"From the very beginning of the season we talked about how Brian is our most important player because we don't really have an inside presence. He is our inside presence," Coach Rico Reed said. "And it's not only on Brian, it's on us as a team to trust Brian with the ball in those situations. Tonight we did a lot of that, got him a lot of touches."

Point guard Mo Berchie, a senior, rode the momentum of McDonald's shots to score 11 of his 20 points in the third period, which ended with the scoreboard at 57-53 in the Panthers' favor.

"We tried to control the tempo. In the first half, I think they controlled the tempo. ... In the second half, we started to trap and force them to look for other options," Reed said. "But we also sped them up. So when things started moving at a more frenetic pace, the frenetic style is more in our favor."

The Huskies tied the game less than three minutes into the fourth period on a 3-pointer from Troy Thomas to put the score at 61-61. The Panthers took the lead again a few seconds later only to have the Huskies tie it again with a shot from McDonald, a sequence that repeated itself again and again over the next few plays.

The Huskies took a lead — their first of the game — with 2:53 on the clock with two points from Chrystian Brown, which the Panthers promptly answered again, tying the game at 69. McDonald sank another shot for the Huskies to give them the lead, but the Panthers again tied it with two made free throws.

With about one minute left in the game, Andy Rehberger netted a shot to put the scoreboard at 73-71. The Huskies fouled Potomac's Matt Carney on the Panthers' next possession and Carney sank one of his two shots to make it a one-point game.

With about 14 seconds left on the clock and possession of the ball, Potomac called a timeout.

"They did a very good job. I thought Hamilton was going to be the decoy, and he was and it pulled our defense up," Reed said.

Indeed, Hamilton was the decoy, which opened up Carney for Potomac's game-winning layup for a 74-73 final score.

The Huskies (5-4 MAC) will host Sidwell Friends (7-0) at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Points: Brian McDonald (22), Mo Berchie (20), Troy Thomas (6), Chrystian Brown (6), Daniel Giguere (4), Trevor Ogundepo (4), Andy Rehberger (4), Jerrod Reed (3), Ramon Burris (2), Britton Anderson (2)